Page:The Indian Dispossessed.pdf/154

The Indian Dispossessed to the tepee, and to the blanket; back to the Indian traditions, and to the simple Indian notion of justice; back to the Indian life in search of lost happiness! The story of the American Indian reservation contains many a tale of Indian retrogression, but none more marked than that of Joseph’s band. Every reservation can show its quota of old-time Indians carried over from the old Indian life into the semi-captivity of the present day,—unprogressive always, frowning their impotent protest as they recall the happier hunting days,—not a grand, but a sad army of old warriors who failed to win in the ﬁght for liberty and country.

And so the older Indians in Joseph’s band idly dream of the good old days in the Wallowa, while the young men go uncontrolled; there are none of the activities and incentives of the real Indian life; there are all of the white man's vices to ﬁll their place.

Fifteen years of this life pass, and Joseph feels old age coming upon him. Then he dreams an impossible dream. It is that he shall take his people back to the Wallowa Val1ey—that he may die in the land of his fathers.

Did ever an exiled Indian more blindly reckon without the white possessors of his old hunting-ground? No Indian petition to his Great Father in Washington could prevail against such a report as this:

"The subject of Joseph's transfer to the Wallowa Valley in Oregon has been discussed at length among 138